Northcliffe answers SOS
Coast new host after event falls victim to shark
A BULL shark threat may have suspended a crucial phase of the Summer of Surf (SOS), but now it has culminated in one of the richest weekends the sport has had on the calendar.
Last weekend’s Manly Open Surf Carnival – the penultimate SOS event leading up to Ironman and Ironwoman victors being unveiled – was called off on Saturday morning after a dolphin was reportedly mauled near Shelly Beach.
While all athletes failed to take on their events due to the danger, SOS general manager Trent Goulding said anyone who wished to receive a refund would be able to do so. However he admitted the financial hit had been a significant setback.
“We had some amazing heats, we were set up to have one of the biggest events – if not the biggest event – we’ve ever had,” Goulding said.
“It comes from a huge amount of support and people travelling all over the country to come and race in what was set to be a very special day.
“We were bitterly crushed with the outcome, but unfortunately when you put safety first – which is what we always do – there wasn’t a decision in the end.
“It’s a pretty big hit, unfortunately when setting up that sort of event with that infrastructure and travel and production and all those sort of things it’s a pretty tough pill to swallow.”
Nevertheless, the Shaw and Partners Shannon Eckstein Ironman Classic will settle the score following Saturday’s cancellation.
Now the showcase at BMD Northcliffe Surf Club will become a two-day double header spectacle, beginning on Friday February 11, with a jackpot of $240,000 up for grabs.
Up to $100,000 in prize money will be tabled for the rerun of the Manly event, where all the finals set to take place will be performed in a “full finals package”.
On the Saturday to follow, the Eckstein Classic will launch, at the end of which winners will be crowned to at last put the icing on a tumultuous end to the 2022/23 campaign.
“All of the racing that was going to be done (on Saturday) in Manly is going to run on the Friday the day before the Shaw and Partners Shannon Eckstein Classic,” Shaw and Partners co-CEO Earl Evans said.
“The Shaw and Partner classic in its traditional sense there was $140,000 put together with ourselves and BMD Northcliffe and the sponsors and the like.
“We said we’d chip in $75,000 to match (Saturday’s event), then I got a call … from Jimmy Walker and Dean Gardner from Race One Paddles and their objective is to give back and contribute to the sport via their profits.”
Matt Bevilacqua and Rebecca Creedy will enter the respective Ironman and Ironwoman final stages as the athletes to beat.